Apparatus for mining coal



May 8, 1945-l D. H. REEDER 2,375,689

APPARATUS FOR MINING COAL Filed Dec. 27, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR,

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May 8,1945- D. H; REEDER 2,375,689

APPARATUS FOR MINING COAL Filed Dec. 27, 1943 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR,

' power grinding unit shown Patented May s, 194s UNITED t STATES PATENTOFFICE APPARATUS Fon MINING cosi. David H. Reeder, Kansas City, Mo. fApplication December 27, isiafsenai No. trasse (ci. 26a-m i claims.

`The invention relates to improvement in the apparatus for mining coalor other earth materials and has particular reference to the removal ofthe coal in a coaiveln.

An object of the invention is the provision of an apparatus whereby acoal vein may be pulverized and the pulverized coal removed therefrom bysuction for commercial use.

A further object or the -invention is the provision oi' an apparatusprovided with a rotary powdered form direct from the 4 grinding wheeladapted `to be operatively positioned against a vein of coal whereby thecoal is pulverized and provided'with a suctiony means grinding wheel toa. receptacle. y A still further object of the invention is theprovision of an apparatus for pulverizing coal whereby the pulverizedcoal is moved from said at the coal vein having means for screening thecoal dust and means for further grinding the larger particles wherebythey will pass through said screen.

Other objects are simplicityand economy of construction, ease andeiliciency of operation, and adaptability for use in mining, tunneling,or removing any earth structure in pulverized form.

Reference will now be h d to the drawings wherein:

Figure l is an elevational view of the apparatus of the presentinvention in use in a mine.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the in the operative position ina coal mine'.

Fig. 3 is a front end elevation of the power grinding unit.

Fig. d is a cross sectional view taken on line Fig. v.5 is a crosssectional view taken on line V-V oi' Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a modified form of the apparatus wherein the pulverized coalisdelivered to a car within' the mine'adjacent the p ointof mining.

Throughout the several views like reference characters refer to similarparts and the numeral III designates a power grinding unit having a 45lcasing I2'openat its forward end I4 and provided at its rear portionwith a motor compartment I6 separated from the open `front compartmentI8 by a partition wall 20. A passageway 22 is provided to extend fromcompartment I8 to the rear of the power unit to receive a conduit. 24.Conduit 24 .is made of a exible material and serves as a conductor forconducting the powdered product from the mine and permits of freemovement oi the power grinding unit to operate over the \formed incasing I2 serves as a. receptacle for an full face of the coal vein C. Asuction device 26 may-be provided at the outer extremity of conlduit 24to' create a suctional force therein for vmoving the powdered productfrom the mine.

, Since the power grinding unit will necessarily be' quite heavy itisthought best to counterbalance the same suillciently so that it may beeasily handled by the operator during the grinding operation. Thiscounter-balancing means comprises a cable 2E secured at its one end toan eyelei; 30 anchored to casing i2, passed over sheave wheels 32 and 36and provided at its other end with aweight 36. A frame 38 carryingsheave lwheels 32 and 34 is mounted for free longitudinal movement ontrack 46 secured in the top oi 'the mine shaft, thus permittingmovement; ci the grinding unit to any position on the face of the coalvein.

A motor 42 is operatively mounted in compartment I6 and has an elongatedrotor shaft iii which extends through bearing 4S formed in wall 20 andthrough a bearing 48 supported by arms 50 and disposed adjacent theforward end ci compartment I8, to receive a grinding wheel or?. Wheel 52is preferably made of a composition shaft 44, to which it is` secured bypin Et.

Mounted on shaft 44 adjacent bearing 4:8 is

fan wheelg62 having blades '64 and peripheral.

band 65 to which is attached a series of spaced apart arcuate grindingmembers 66. A recess 68 annular grinding wheel 'I which is in operativerelation with the rotary grinding members 66. A

screen partition 1I is mounted in spaced relation between partition 2Uand---Afanwheel 62 so that the particles of coal ground from thecoalwein will be forced against the screen so that the smaller particleswill pass therethrough and the particles too large to go through thescreen will fall into the inclined surface I2 adjacent the screen and bedeposited between u the grinding members 66 and 'I0 where they will bereground and reduced to a sumciently small size so that they will beforced through the screen portion 'I I.

dust therebetween. y Cover r ot which the operator may direct thegrinding wheel against the surface of the coal-vein. Other hand grippingmeans may be provided whereby the power grinder may be manipulated toproperly grind the earth structure. It will be noted that the face ofthe grinding wheel adjacent its outer periphery is slightly beveled atIl to allow transverse movement oi' the wheel across the face of thecoal; The inner portion of the grinding wheel will have a much slowermovement than the outer portion of the wheel and will not grind asrapidly. For this reason it will be found advisable to maintain a slowtransverse movement of the grinding wheel across the face of the coal sothat all portions of the vein being ground will be in contact with boththe slow and fast moving portions Vof the grinding wheel, thus znalringl it possible to maintain the exposed surface of' the an vein insubstantially a planar form. In the operation of the device the operatormayexert any desired force against the grinding wheel to obtain a rapidor slow cutting of the coal. The contour of the grinding wheel I! may hevaried to obtain any desired cutting effect without departing from the'spirit of the invention.

Another method of determining the speed of cut will be by` varying thespeed of the motor.-

When the device is in operation and the wheel is rotated against thecoal surface air will be drawn in through the slots i6 of the grindingwheel by the action of the fan wheel l2, thence through the screen H andinto conduit 2l where it will be acted upon by the suction caused by thesuction device 26.

. The apparatus for mining coal just described contemplates the deliveryof the pulverizedY coal to a point remote from the surface of the lcoalvein being min'ed and provides for suction means for delivery of thecoal product.

It is quite apparent that several stages of suction units might beprovided where the mine shaft is of considerable length. In someinstances it might be desirable to collect the pulverized coal adjacentthe coal vein and for this purpose the modified form shown in Flg isprovided. The power grinding unit may be the same as provided in themodified form and is provided ywith a flexible conduit 82 which isoperatively connected with the upper end portion 8l of a mine car 8iwhich is adapted to be moved on its wheels along the mine .shaft 9 0 tothe elevator (not shown). This -mine car is ofthe ordinary box type andis provided with a cover member 92 which is adapted to be securedsubstantially air tight thereon to prevent the passage of'coal l2 hasa'depending nange 94 provided with a hanged sleeve Sl to which theconduit I2 is in register with a notch 9B formed in the end wall of thecar. Within the car I. and adjacent j A the notch 98 is .a suction fanIII driven by a motor llllrmounted in fan housing Il! which is rigidlysecured to the underside of cover l2.

:,avacao is attached. This sleevev Whenfaniltisoperateditwillcreateasuctlon incondult I2 thuscausingthepowderedcoaland 'airtobeforced into theclosedcarll.

. An opening lll formed in the cover $2 has'a 5 peripheral iiange lli towhich is -secured a woven bag Ill. This bag is of the. ordinary vacuumcleaner type which permits the air to pass there-through but retains thedust particles.

Ascreen Ill carried by the cover 92 is so posil0 tioned over opening' las to intercept the-major portion of the coal dust delivered to the carso that as the operationy of grinding is continued,

tnecarwmbegraduauynnedwnneoaldust m..

A slight accumulation of dust may be encomi- 15' tered in bag lll;however, this may be removed when the quantity therein becomesobjectionable.

l The suctionfan illwillbeofsufllcientsu'ength to normally deliver allof the coal dust to the car 8i and in many instances it may be possiblego to eliminate the fan wheel 62 in the grinding head by increasing thesuction of fan lll. It is conceivable that the grinding operation withinthe power grinding unit maybe eliminated when the exact size of thepowdered coal is immaterial or when it is found more convenient toclassify the powdered particles after they leave the mine. The cover 92with its attached conduit may be removed from the car and fitted onanother car for iilling. Clamping means IM and IIB may be utilized toinsure a proper sealing of the cover member on the car. When a car isillled, it may be delivered from the mine so that the powdered coal maybe sacked or otherwise disposed of for delivery.

It will benoted that with these forms of mining devices the air is drawnfrom the mine shaft lt through the power grinding unit thence into' thecar where substantially all the foreign particles are filtered therefromand the air is then o again delivered to the shaft. Whenvusing the`-conduit type as shown in Fig. 1, the air delivered to the powergrinding unit passes from the mine through the conduit 24, thusconstantly causing a now of fresh air to the face-of the coal vein.

When it is desired to obtain a lmiform grindr ing of the coal that is acoal dust that will all `pass through a predetermined size screen, thenit is found most convenient `to use the secondary grinding means shownin Fig. 1 wherein no particle of coal can pass through the screen which4is larger than the screen opening. y

In the operation of this device, the operator simply moves the grindingwheel over the surface of the coal vein in such a manner as to maintainVthe face of the coal vein of substantially planar form. By properlymounting and counterbalanc' ing the power grinding unit it is quiteapparent that the unit may be manually operated without any greatfatigue to the operator.

co The use of this' apparatus and method den- 'nitely eliminates severaloperations in the production of the powdered coal, eliminates much ofthe former cost and insures a much safer mining operation. Never at anytime during the 6 mining operation` is there any large volume of dustladen air which might cause a major accident should it be exploded.

It is conceivable that many minor changes might be made in the structureof the apparatus 7o without departing from the maior purpose oi thisinvention which contemplates the miningof coal or any other earthmaterial by grinding it from its natural position within the earth.

I claim:

1. A mining device comprising a motor driven I asraose grinding wheeladapted urbe positioned against theearthstructuretobemined.suctionmeans.

including a screen to draw the ground earth material from said grinding,wheel and torce it against said screen. whereby it is screened andforced outwardly therefrom, and means whereby the particles of earthmaterial too large to pass through said Ascreen is ground sumclentlyiine tov pass through said screen.

A2. In a mining apparatus of the character desented a grinding wheeladapted to be positioned means to reduce the larger particles of earthmaterial whereby they will pass through said screen.

3. In a mining apparatus of the character described a grinding wheeladapted to be positioned with its face against' the earth structure tobe mined, a motor operable to rotate said grinding' wheel whereby topulverize said earth structure, a suction means including a screenoperable by said motor to draw said pulverized earth material from saidwheel and fonce it against said screen located adjacent thereto andgrinding means to reduce the larger particles of earthmaterial wherebythey will pass through said screen,V

and suction means operable whereby the pulverized earth material passingthrough said 4screen is moved to a remote position.

4. In a mining apparatus of the class described an elongated casing openat its one end, amotor mounted in one end portion ofsaid casing, agrinding whel mounted for rotation on the motor shaftwith its operatingface extended beyond the open end of said casing and adapted to bepositioned against .the earth structure to be mined, a transverse screenpartition mounted in said casing, a fan wheel mounted on said motorshaft between saidgrinding wheel and screen, whereby earth materialground from said earth structure will be drawn from said grinding wheeland forced against said screen, and grinding elements carried by saidfan wheel disposed in optor shaft with its operating face extendedbeyond -theopenend otsaid casingand adaptedtobe positioned against theearth structure to be mined, a vertically disposed transverse screenpartition mounted in said casing, atan wheel mounted on said Y motorshaft. between said grinding wheel and screen, whereby earth materialground from said earth structure will be drawn Vfrom said grinding wheeland forced against said screen. and grinding elements carried by saidfan wheel disposed in operative relation with a grinding element can'iedby said lcasing whereby .particles too large to pass through saidscreenwill be reground to a size that will permit their passage throughsaid screen, and a downwardly inclined wall integral with said casing toguide the large particles of ground material from said screen to saidgrinding elements.

6. In a mining apparatus of the class described an elongated casing openat its one end, a motor mounted in one end portion of said casing, agrinding wheel mounted for rotation on the motor shaft with itsoperating face extended beyond the open end of said casing and adaptedto be positioned against the earth structure to be mined, a. verticallydisposed transverse screen partition mounted in said casing, a fan wheelmounted on said motor shaft between said grindingvvheel and screen,whereby earth mate-rial i ground from said earth structrewill be drawn rfrom said grinding wheel and forced against said screen, and grindingelements carried by Vsaid ian wheel disposed in operative relation witha grinding element carried by said casing whereby particles too large topass through said screen will be reground to a size that will permittheir passage through said screen, and a downwardly inclined wallintegral with said casing to guide l the large particles of groundmaterial from said erative relation with a grinding element carriedmounted in one end portion of said casing, a

grinding wheel mounted for rotation on the moscreen to said grindingelements, and suctionv means operable to move all the pulverized 'material passing through said screen to a container.

7. Ina mining' device a motor driven grinding wheel having spaced apartradially disposed arms adapted to be positioned against and to be movedtransversely of the earth structure to be mined, a screen disposed inaxial alignment with said wheel, suction means positioned intermediatesaid screen and wheel to draw the ground earth material from saidgrinding wheel and to force it against said screen to screen the groundr. earth structure. and means associated with said suction meansoperable to reduce the larger par-l ticles of earth structure so .thatthey will pass through said screen.

" DAVID H. REEDER.

